Painting Quickly. Keeping it Fresh.

I paint quickly anyway. But sometimes I give my self an exercise to keep my work looking fresh and energetic. It’s easy to spend too much time on a piece and it can end up looking stale and over-worked. So, I gave my self a time limit of 60 minutes using a previously stained canvas. The steps are shown here from the initial drawing sketch using a wash of raw siena and terpentine to the laying in to shadows, colors and final highlights.

I did the painting in about 45 minutes and just stopped. It’s tempting to keep poking at it but it never helps the final product.

This is a scene of a canal-side cafe in Venice, near the Rialto Bridge. I simplified the scene a bit, just keeping the necessary elements to make the statement. There was a set of stairs directly behind the cafe diners that just seemed to over complicate the composition, so I took it out.